The Center for Career and Pre-Professional Development at Knox College seeks to prepare students for their careers after graduation, and for a life of citizenship and leadership. The Center provides Knox undergraduates with a range of services, all designed to assist students in exploring their interests and skills. Additionally, the center is committed to strengthening connections between students, faculty, alumni and employers. 

We often meet with graduating seniors who say to us, “I wish I had visited the career center earlier.” Even as a “first-year,” your son or daughter can benefit from the Center for Career and Pre-Professional Development.
The best way to get started is with self-assessment: your son or daughter should determine how his or her interests, values, aptitudes, and personality match with potential career paths.

The years that your son or daughter spends at Knox College will pass very quickly. Thoughtful and advanced planning  provides direction and ensures that your student takes full advantage of all of the opportunities available. Should you  have any career-related questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at careers@knox.edu.

Dean of Students


Knox College Parents Association

Welcome to the Knox College Parents Association! Parents become members of the Knox Parents Association at the time their son or daughter enrolls at Knox. The Association encourages parents to participate in the Knox community by attending regional events, Family Weekend, volunteering with the admission office, cheering on our student athletes and/or mentoring a Knox student interested in your career field.

Please feel free to provide us feedback about your student's and your experience at Knox. To contact me, please email knoxparents@knox.edu or call (309) 341-7957.

Sincerely.


Jennie Hemingway
Director of Constituent Relations
& Parent Program Coordinator


Fall Term Begins

Knox College will welcome more than 360 first-year and transfer students on Saturday, September 3, the first day of new student orientation. Knox is expecting a total enrollment of more than 1180 for the start of the 2005-06 academic year. Upperclass students return on September 6 and classes begin September 8. Enrollment is officially tallied at the end of the second week of class.

As he did last year, Knox President Roger Taylor will help new students move into their residence halls on Saturday, September 3.

"It's a lot like baling hay," said Taylor, a retired lawyer who grew up on a farm in Fulton County. He estimates that he helped more than a dozen students move in last year. Before he was named President of Knox in 2002, Taylor was an attorney for 30 years with Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. After retiring from his law practice, he moved back to to his family's farm near Ellisville, about 20 miles south of Galesburg.

On Wednesday, September 7, after all students have completed registration and before the first day of class, Knox will hold "Pumphandle," a distinctive, long-standing tradition to mark the start of the academic year. With Taylor and his wife Anne, both Knox graduates, at the head of the line, each student, faculty and staff member who arrives at the event shakes hands with those already in line. It's followed by an all-campus picnic.

As the line grows, it stretches between several buildings on campus, and the route often varies from year to year. In case of rain -- it's only rained on Pumphandle twice in the past 20 years -- the event is held in Fleming Fieldhouse. The event dates back to to the early 1900s and, according to a history of the College, acquired the name "Pumphandle," in the 1920s.

Fundamentally Strong: Knox's Ranking in U.S. News
 
Knox College's fundamental strengths in faculty, academic program and student recruitment remain strong, according to college rankings released this week by U.S. News and World Report. Knox was ranked 73rd out of 215 schools in the "Best Liberal Arts Colleges" category, moving up four places from last year.

The rankings are based on several indicators of academic quality. Almost two-thirds of Knox classes have fewer than 20 students, no classes are larger than 50, and 90% of Knox faculty have the top academic degrees in their fields.  "That means Knox students are getting a personalized educational experience with outstanding scholars and teachers," explains Knox President Roger L. Taylor.

"In addition, in the survey year, Knox had a first-year retention rate of 88%, which is a huge vote of confidence from students themselves," Taylor said.

"But Knox also believes that education is not about numbers or rankings, and we encourage students to look at individual colleges for themselves," Taylor said. "At Knox, students are individuals, not numbers, which is one of the reasons that we've stopped making students submit standardized test scores when they apply."
 Read more . . .

Clare Booth Luce Grant Confirms Colleges Dedication to Women in Science
A recent grant for more than $200,000 from the Henry Luce Foundation confirms Knox College’s reputation as a place for women in science. A key reason for Knox’s inclusion in the foundation’s highly competitive Clare Booth Luce Program was its success in attracting and retaining female science students and in preparing them for graduate study and professional careers.

Women students make up 55 percent of all science majors at Knox—a rate equal to their proportion of the student body but high by national standards. Women are also well represented among the College’s strongest science graduates and alumni. From 1999 to 2004, women were 48 percent of all science Honors recipients, and they comprised 49 percent of all science Ph.D.s awarded to Knox graduates from 1993 to 2002.

Two alumnae were previously honored by the Luce Foundation as Clare Boothe Luce Professors at other institutions: Amy Schachter ’85, senior associate dean and professor of chemistry at Santa Clara University, and Catherine Miller ’88, Clare Boothe Luce Associate Professor of Chemistry at John Carroll University.

The Clare Booth Luce Scholars program will provide scholarships for two years to four female students majoring in computer science or engineering. Read more . . .

Grant for Community Service Center
Scripps Foundation awards Knox $30,000 to facilitate volunteer work by students
 
Knox College's new Center for Community Service, created to expand and coordinate volunteer activities by Knox students in the Galesburg area, has received a start-up grant from the Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation of California.

The center will work with local agencies and organizations to identify service projects and volunteer opportunities for Knox students. The $30,000 grant will fully fund the center's first year of operation, including hiring a half-time professional director and three student assistants. College officials plan to fill the director position and open the center this fall. Read more . . .



Student Receives Supreme Court Internship
 
Joel Christensen '06 will have a front-row seat for the upcoming confirmation of a new associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, and for anything else that comes up in the next four months before the nation's highest court.

The senior political science and philosophy major is one of just two college students nationally selected this month for internships in the office of Sally Rider, Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice. The office handles Chief Justice William Rehnquist's non-judicial responsibilities, including oversight of the federal judiciary and his service on various boards and commissions.

Christensen will start the 16-week internship in late August, about the time that news reports indicate confirmation hearings could begin for John Roberts' nomination to the Court.

Christensen applied for the internship at the suggestion of Lane Sunderland, Chancie Ferris Booth Professor of Political Science at Knox, an expert on the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court, and a Supreme Court Fellow.

"When I attended the Supreme Court Fellows' meetings in February, I was asked if we had another superior candidate for an internship," Sunderland said on Tuesday. "I was happy to draw their attention to Joel. He's an excellent student and he has the characteristics -- a combination of confidence and humility -- that are required to work in a support role at the Supreme Court."

"Knox has a good reputation at the Supreme Court," Sunderland said, noting that Christensen is the third Knox student in three years to serve as an intern at the Court. Megan Rehberg in 2004 and Jamie Mitchell in 2003 worked as interns in the office of the curator of the Supreme Court.

Christensen said he expects to have research-related assignments, such as reading and summarizing articles in the news media about court-related topics.

KNOX COLLEGE PARENTS PROGRAM
2 East South Street, Box 150
Galesburg, IL 61401